vintage of gear.
Ok, try this. Make a test strip that goes to maximum black on the paper but keep blasting it with additional strips of exposure. Lay the processed and dried paper on an opaque surface and check for the darkest strip, now hold it up to the light. You can now see all those darker bands. So, even how you hold a print to view it influences D-max.
I cannot distinguish their boundaries even under a strong light.
4. MEASUREMENT IN DENSITY
The sample should be illuminated at an angle of 45 degrees to the surface and the density
measured normal to the surface. Samples having a pronounced surface characteristic should have the densities read first in one position perpendicular to the viewing axis. Then the specimen should be rotated through an angle of 90. degrees about the viewing axis and the density measured again. The two values thus obtained should be averaged and recorded as the density for that measurement.
Information about log E paper ranges needs to be reliable. Such information is best obtained by a test in the actual printing conditions, rather than relying on manufacturer's data which are only representative of a product. This information can be obtained by printing a negative step tablet in a standardized way with a controlled light source and at a know magnification if a enlarger is being used. A visual examination of the print of the step tablet is usually sufficient to establish of the range of log E over which the paper responds."
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For the two tests mentioned here, it does not matter they all work equally well. I might go for the LED one, but really whatever you can get for less than $100. Even an enlarger will work. These ESECO units list for $750 but we got them for $25 on ebay.
For "Beyond The Zone System" testing; I don't know. You have to buy into that system and it involves (from what I gather) matching paper to negative with the curves. I'm not a fan of that method of working but that is not to say it is not a good system or that people should not use it. I have used multigrade paper and variable filtration since 1974 and prefer working the negatives up as I print them with trial and error. Also, I don't have the workbooks or software for the system, so I can't test it with these sensitometers.
If I were to take a guess, I'd say that none of these units will work with that system because some of your photographs will be at exposures longer than 1 second or shorter than 1/1000 second. None of these 4 units duplicates how your film in your camera responds to daylight scenes one might photograph. Again, that is just my guess and someone should test how that system responds to different sensitometers. Of course the reflection densitometers used for reading the paper will be a whole other can of worms. I don't own a reflection densitometer and have turned them down when offered to me for free. I don't think they are very reliable at reading the glossy photographic papers I use. They are designed for the graphic arts industry.
What do you mean by "optimum" toning? Simply DMax with selenium?
In connection with the development of the ASA negative speed method, an experiment was done to determine the print characteristics for the images preferred by the panel of observers. In general, it was found that only a part of the paper curve was used in making excellent prints. Specifically, almost no preferred print contained the maximum density of which the paper was capable. The darkest shadow was quite uniformly found at a point on the D log E curve well below the maximum....
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